New Delhi: The CBI on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against 13 people in the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak case, naming three paper experts, two coaching-centre-linked accused, middlemen and several beneficiary candidates, officials said.
In the chargesheet filed before a special court, the agency has invoked charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence and other offences under the BNS, besides charges related to criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act and violations of the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
“The chargesheet includes the statements of 360 witnesses, 422 documents and 43 material objects. All 13 accused are currently in judicial custody,” the agency’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The CBI said it has also attached digital forensic analysis reports, handwriting expert opinions and academic experts’ opinions on the leaked questions in the chargesheet, as reported by NDTV.
“These reports confirmed the role of the accused in circulation of leaked questions prior to the date of examination,” the spokesperson said.
The agency was handed the probe on May 12, following allegations of irregularities and a paper leak in the NEET-UG 2026 examination held on May 3.
The examination was later cancelled, and a re-examination was conducted on June 21.
The NEET paper leak matter later escalated into a major political controversy. A group of ‘Gen Z’ led by the Cockroach Janta Party staged a large protest at Jantar Mantar, which resulted in the resignation of then education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
After the FIR was registered, the CBI moved quickly, conducting raids at 92 locations across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and other states.
Over its two-month probe, the agency said it uncovered the conspiracy from the point of origin to the beneficiary candidates, effectively identifying the entire chain.
The CBI has named three arrested National Testing Agency subject experts — PV Kulkarni (chemistry), Manisha Gurunath Mandhare (biology) and Manisha Sanjay Havaldar (physics) — as accused in the case.
Manoj Shirure, a Latur-based doctor, Tejas Harshadkumar Shah, a physics faculty at Dr Abhang Prabhu Medical Academy (APMA), a Pune-based coaching centre, and Shivraj Raghunath Motegaonkar of a Latur-based coaching centre were also arrested and included in the chargesheet, officials said.
“Several middlemen who have sourced and distributed these leaked questions have also been identified and arrested. Two individuals associated with coaching institutes have also been arrested for obtaining these leaked question papers from the above experts,” the CBI spokesperson said.
